College Green landmark was a magnet for lovers

Photo Credits: Courtesy of Ray Asik Photo Caption: Ray Asik’s girlfriend, Sandy, sits next to a message he painted for her in the Kissing Circle on College Green at Ohio University in 1962.

In the 1940s and into the ’60s, Ohio University’s College
Green accommodated more than studying and hurrying students. The Kissing Circle
tradition began and evolved through the years.

The Kissing Circle is an area on College Green formed by
four brick walkways’ intersection, close to what is now Chubb Hall. The first
recognition of the circle by OU students consisted of a white ‘X’ painted on a
green background. The rules were simple: any time a man and woman crossed the
Kissing Circle at the same time, they kissed each other.

Though it wasn’t recognized by the university, the
original Kissing Circle design lasted for several years until some fraternity
members painted their specific colors over the X, starting a new tradition. The
rules of the Kissing Circle remained except the space was then devoted to
letters and colors of different sororities and fraternities. The painted
symbols of each organization lasted for one week until a new group snuck out at
night with paint and brushes.

In the spring of 1962, another tradition began when
Raymond Asik, LTC, USAF (Ret.), B.S. Ed. ’63, decided to paint a message to his
girlfriend, Sandy, instead of his fraternity’s letters. His fraternity brothers
didn’t want to go out at midnight to join him in the tradition so he chose to
paint a message for the woman he loved.

“I spent about four hours getting it done,” Asik said of
the “To Sandy Love Ray” message he painted in the circle.

After sleeping for a few hours, Asik said he put on his
tie and fraternity blazer and went to Voigt Hall, Sandy’s dorm, at 8 a.m.

“We usually went to Baker Center for coffee but she kinda
thought something was funny because I was dressed in a suit at 8 o’clock in the
morning on a Saturday,” Asik remembered. “I would, too.”

They walked through College Gate and over Asik’s special
message, which lasted for a week. Sandy couldn’t believe Asik’s genuine
gesture, and others were also shocked because they were so use to seeing
sorority and fraternity letters, Asik said. The couple took pictures with the
special message, and Sandy later showed all of her girlfriends.

In the late 1960s
the Kissing Circle tradition started to wane as students began painting
footprints and arrows on surrounding walkways, rather than the designated
circle. A Post article published in
October 1963 reported, “The OKKCC (Committee to Keep the Kissing Circle Clean)
proposed that all art work be limited to the circle alone. It seems that a
certain, overly-ambitious clan got carried away down the five walks leading to
the Circle.” In the early 1970s, the Graffiti Wall, behind what is now Bentley
Hall, replaced the Kissing Circle as a place to paint campus-wide messages.

“Things or objects have a purpose in their life and they
serve a purpose for a period of time. It either morphs into something else or
it gets changed, which is fine; that’s the way traditions start,” Asik said.